This invention relates to an apparatus and method for fragmenting or subdividing elongated articles, and more particularly relates to an apparatus and method for fragmenting or subdividing railroad rails.
As the rails of railroad tracks age and wear, it is desirable and/or becomes necessary from time to time to remove one or more rails, or complete sections of track, and replace the removed rails with new rails. Also, when portions of a railroad line are abandoned or otherwise fall into disuse, sections of the track are frequently removed by salvagers and sold to steel mills or other metal processing facilities requiring scrap metal. Since the rails as removed from the railroad beds are too long for convenient handling and processing, it is desirable to fragment or otherwise divide the rails into small pieces for ease of shipment and subsequent metallurgical operations.
While machines are available for fragmenting or subdividing elongated lengths of material into smaller pieces, and while machines have specifically been developed for fragmenting or subdividing railroad rails into smaller pieces, so far as it is known, no machines are presently available which are capable of rapidly, efficiently and economically fragmenting or subdividing railroad rails such as to make the salvaging thereof worthwhile.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus and method for rapidly, efficiently and economically fragmenting elongated lengths of metal into smaller pieces to facilitate further processing and/or reuse of the metal fragments.
Another object is to provide a novel apparatus for rapidly, efficiently and economically fragmenting railroad rails into short lengths suitable for use as scrap or in other metallurgical processes.
These and other objects will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and accompanying drawings.